Laura gives her take on the Olympics and hopes for 2012

9.58.36am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 20th Sep 2003

This week I have wanted to be a swimmer, a marathon runner a gymnast and a boxer. - I am hooked. The Olympics are on in Blackstock Road and it' is hard to get much else done.

I have in particular, I've been scrutinising those sports with older athletes - in 2012 I will be 38.The fact that I have never participated at any level in a sport before should not be a deterrent and- I am sure I can become an Olympic champion in 2012 with the Olympics here in the UK. - I can dream!

But here comes the point. My excitement around of the current Olympics is heightened by the fact that we could have it here in 2012 - just down the road. In fact, bits would happen in the borough. Any scepticism that I had has most certainly been superseded by a desire to have those sports facilities (sure, I will use a velodrome), to show off our cultural diversity (what other country can boast a local community that is home to every Olympic language) and to finally say we are a proud country.

The last bit for me is certainly the key. When watching the Sydney opening ceremony in 2000 I did not think Britain had enough pride in itself to celebrate our country in such a way (and the Aussies had Kylie too!). I could feel British cynicism and self-effacement crawling around slapping back our national pride as a folly of self indulgence.

But not anymore. In the last few years I have discovered that it is possible to be a liberal, pro-European and fiercely patriotic. I am proud of this country and want an Olympic opening ceremony to show the world the great things we are as a nation - welcoming, kind, fantastic at sarcasm and double entendra and most of all (this fortnight of fortnights), - damn good at sport as competitors as well as winners.

I want the Olympics here. Yes there will be also sorts of problems and upheavals, but they will be worth it - for every child to want to be an athlete and to go out and try, for us to show off what a great capital city this is (whether you live here or not, we sometimes forget, but London is fantastic) and to use it as a catalyst to change large chunks of the City that most of us have never seen before.

So when the International Olympics bods come next year to do their survey to see if there is public support for the games in London, I hope like me you can choke back that natural pessimism (we will never do it, just look at the dome and so on?) and say YES we want it here, it would be great - and then go start planning what you will sport you will be competing in, in 2012.